On December 29, 1970, President Richard Nixon signed the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 into law. The following April, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was formed.
Since then, OSHA has been charged with ensuring “safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance.”
As noted in their mission statement, OSHA not only creates safety standards, but they also supply guidelines for meeting these safe conditions. How do you know which OSHA standards apply to you? And how do you receive workplace safety training? We will take you through some of the most common OSHA-related topics to help you maintain OSHA compliance.
There are nearly 1,000 OSHA standards, falling under four main categories: Construction, Maritime, Agriculture, and General Industry. Construction includes the most individual safety standards, but most workplaces will find their needs fall under the General Industry umbrella.
When determining which standards you need to enforce, start by considering the potential safety hazards faced by your employees rather than simply looking at your general industry regulations. For instance, if you run a construction company, some employees may need to complete a safety training course on bloodborne pathogens (BBP) in order to administer first aid at job sites. You will not find a bloodborne pathogens regulation in the Construction section; BBP falls under General Industry. Other safety standards, like personal protective equipment (PPE), will be seen across all industries.
OSHA regulations try to cover most potential hazards faced at a worksite. However, when there is not a standard for specific health hazards, employers can fall back on the General Duty Clause of the OSH Act, which requires employers to provide a place of employment that is “free from recognizable hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious harm to employees.”
All employers must comply with the General Duty Clause, regardless of whether the workplace is covered by federal OSHA or by a State Plan.
The federal OSH Act covers most private-sector employees, along with some state and local government employees, throughout the United States and certain U.S. jurisdictions. However, many states and territories enact their own OSHA-approved State Plans, which essentially replace federal OSHA enforcement.
State Plans must set workplace health and safety standards that are “at least as effective as” OSHA standards. Many states adopt standards identical to OSHA but can address possible hazards not covered by federal OSHA standards. Regardless, all State Plans are reviewed, approved, and continually monitored by OSHA. Think of OSHA standards as the foundation and the state plan states can build upon them; adding additional requirements but not requiring less than OSHA standards.
The following table outlines the jurisdictions currently following a State Plan. The seven states listed in bold have State Plans that cover only state and local government worker safety (federal OSHA standards cover private-sector worker safety in these areas) while the rest have a State Plan that covers most private-sector workers and all public-sector workers.
Illinois
New Jersey
Massachusetts
New York
Connecticut
U.S. Virgin Islands
Maine
Unfortunately, OSHA does not have one consistent standard for addressing safety training. Instead, if there are specific training requirements, they are outlined in the applicable OSHA standard itself.
Some OSHA training requirements include verbiage such as “training” or “instruction,” but OSHA has taken the position that, regardless of the precise language used, all OSHA training must be presented in a manner the employee is capable of understanding.
Generally, employers should understand that if they typically need to communicate with workers at a certain vocabulary level or in a language other than English, safety training materials must be provided in the same manner.
Remember that OSHA training is not comprehensive. Completing training shows the employee has been made aware of potential safety hazards and understands what to do in a dangerous situation. Employees should still receive on-the-job training for a particular role and for the company to ensure they can perform necessary job functions.
When it comes to workplace safety and health, standard training best practices can still be applied. Some of the most used training tips include utilizing engaging content and interactivity, incorporating real-life scenarios, ensuring accessibility for all employees, and assessing employee knowledge as you go.
Engaging and interactive
Keeping learners interested in employee training, especially safety training courses, is often one of the biggest hurdles that trainers encounter. Typical lecture-style training materials tend to lose employees. Incorporating activities, such as in-training questions, means the learners must remain active and engaged during effective safety training.
Incorporating real-life scenarios
No matter the type of training used, it is always easier to grasp the topic at hand when the scenarios are relatable to an employee’s situation. For instance, you may think that a generic training lesson over slips, trips, and falls may be sufficient. But if your employees work in a supermarket and the safety training course only features scenarios occurring on construction sites, it is unlikely to be effective safety training. Relatability always helps with retention.
Accessibility for all employees
When it comes to safety training, it is imperative that all employees receive the training they need, whether they work in an office or out in a field. Ensuring your training materials can be accessed from anywhere at any time means it will be more effective and, ideally, create a safe work environment.
Knowledge assessments
It is easy for employees to sit through a training class simply to check off a required box. However, workplace safety training would be largely useless if employees did not retain any of the information. Offering quiz questions or other forms of assessment both during and after training forces the employees to think about what they learned and prove they understood the material.
Just like there is not an overarching standard for OSHA training requirements, there is not one simple guideline regarding OSHA training documentation. To determine what training records to maintain, you will need to look up the specific OSHA standards. If a standard has record documentation requirements, they will be listed in the OSHA regulation.
Many safety regulations, like Mechanical Power Presses (1910.217), include verbiage indicating “the employer shall certify that employees have been trained by preparing a certification record.” However, some regulations do outline specific details to be included in the certification.
Another question employers often have is how long training records need to be maintained. Again, this varies by regulation. Some specify a certain number of years, some note that records should be kept for the duration of employment, and others only specify that the most recent certification needs to be maintained.
However, if you are in doubt over what records to maintain, remember that OSHA has offered their own suggestion: “It is a good idea to keep a record of all safety and health training.”
All employers under the purview of OSHA, whether federally or through a State Plan, are subject to periodic inspections. OSHA inspections can also come about following employee safety complaints. Depending on the type of violation and severity of the danger, or the potential danger, OSHA may issue a citation or fine.
There are six main categories of OSHA violations, five of which result in civil penalties. Penalties for OSHA violations typically increase each year, based on inflation. The specific fines noted below come from the penalty amounts published by OSHA on January 8, 2024.
De Minimis Violations
The least serious of OSHA violations, this category denotes technical violations that have no direct impact on health or safety. OSHA does not issue fines for de minimis infractions, but employers will receive a verbal notification from the OSHA inspector.
Other-than-Serious Violations
A violation related to health or safety but that would not result in serious workplace injuries or death, such as not posting required safety documentation in a work area, is considered “other-than-serious.” The maximum penalty is $16,131 per violation, but inspectors can choose to reduce the fine by as much as 95% or drop the fine altogether, based on things such as the cooperativeness of the owner.
Serious Violations
Just as it sounds, a serious OSHA violation could cause an accident or illness that would most likely result in death or serious physical harm, unless the employer did not or could not have known of the situation. Fines anywhere from $1,190 up to $16,131 are possible per violation.
Willful Violations
This most serious category is reserved for situations when an employer shows complete disregard for employee safety. Fines can range from $11,524 to $161,323 per violation, but if the violation results in an employee death, it becomes a criminal offense and could result in jail time.
Repeated Violation
If OSHA issues a citation or fine and a subsequent inspection reveals an identical or very similar violation, a fine from $11,524 to $161,323 per violation may be issued. However, if the employer contested the original violation and is awaiting a decision from OSHA, inspectors cannot assess a repeated violation.
Failure to Abate Prior Violation
Each violation citation includes a date by which the issue must be resolved. For employers who do not do so on or before the specified date, a fine of up to $16,131 per day beyond the abatement date may be assessed.
In addition to the fines that come with OSHA violations, employers must keep in mind the non-monetary effects of noncompliance. When a company fails to uphold health and safety standards, their customers, partners, and even the public are given reason to see them in a negative light. Reputational damage can result in a loss of sales, layoffs, bankruptcy or worse.
Each year, OSHA releases a list of the top 10 most-cited violations from the previous fiscal year. The list does not change much from year to year, and many of the listed violations are some of the most easily preventable issues. In 2023, for the 13th year in a row, Fall Protection topped the list.
Here are 2023’s most-cited OSHA violations, along with the corresponding OSHA regulation:
As the world around us becomes more digital seemingly every day, it makes sense that employee training would make the switch to digital as well, but how effective are online training materials? Do online training materials meet OSHA training requirements?
When you consider the training best practices mentioned earlier, online safety training can help your safety training program accomplish each of those and more.
An online safety training program makes it easy to insert interactive and engaging material within the content, and these elements can even be tied into knowledge assessments. If your course includes questions or surveys during and after the initial training, employees can demonstrate their newfound knowledge.
A major benefit of online training is that it is easily accessible by employees at any location. Whether you have an office employee taking the course on a desktop computer or an oil worker going through training on a tablet while on the rig, online courses make required, and optional, training courses fully accessible.
Taking OSHA training online could also save your company time and money, as online training does not require a physical classroom setting or bringing an in-person trainer to your jobsite. Employees can complete virtual training from anywhere with internet access.
So, what does OSHA think of online training? While they do believe computer-based training can be highly effective as part of a health and safety training program, they also caution employers to not rely solely on CBT for safety training.
Essentially, OSHA wants to see each employer develop a well-rounded safety training program, not a “set it and forget it” solution. Worker safety is too important. Think of a safety program as a responsive, living entity. Above the baseline policies and safety procedures, there must be a continuous loop of input and responsiveness, from initial training to hazard identification and abatement. Participation is essential.
There are certain job roles or specific OSHA guidelines that may require some in-person training. For instance, anyone can take an online chainsaw safety training course, but until an employee has physically picked up a chainsaw and demonstrated how to safely operate the machinery, they could be considered a liability.
One of the key benefits of online courses is that they afford employers more time for one-on-one or small group live instruction, by handling the knowledge requirements for each training topic efficiently.
As is the case with any training, repeating OSHA safety training at regular intervals could help employees stay up to date with safety regulations and further reinforce knowledge of how to follow the OSHA guidelines.
Within OSHA training requirements you will find numerous mentions of “refresher training” or “retraining.” These are meant to advise employers on how often employees are required to be retrained on a topic. Some regulations call for yearly retraining while others only require retraining every three years. Some regulations indicate conditions upon which retraining is warranted. They include:
A benefit to taking workplace health and safety training online is how easy it is to assign and complete refresher training as often as is needed or as often as you’d like. While some OSHA regulations clearly state retraining frequency or conditions, it is never a bad idea to brush up on safety training materials even when not required.
With nearly 1,000 different OSHA standards and hundreds of specific training requirements, it can be hard for employers to keep track of everything needed for regulatory compliance.
While much of understanding all that is required — or suggested — by OSHA typically means employers must look through specific standards, OSHA does provide an overview of employer responsibilities.
This page lists the General Duty Clause and briefly outlines things such as appropriate signage, how to report fatalities or serious workplace injuries, recordkeeping responsibilities, and more. It also makes it easy to find many important OSHA documents, all linked in one place.
Once you have determined which of OSHA's standards apply to your workplace and the specific training requirements that go along with those regulations, it is time to implement a quality safety training program. See how HSI makes occupational health and safety training easy, no matter your industry, job title or location.
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